Pinewood Derby

This week was a big week for Jayden at Scouts.  He advanced to Bears, received his Wolf badge and 3 arrow points, and competed in the Pinewood Derby.  This was his second year doing the derby.  Last year we didn't have a clue how to build a derby car, so Jayden basically got last place in all the races.  We decided to do our research and build him a better car this year.  We bought a magazine with all the secrets of building a winning car and we worked on it last week.  This years race was so much better than last year!  HE GOT FIRST PLACE!  He was so excited!  There were about 15 other cars there and they had an electronic sensor to measure the speed of the cars.  If Jayden's car was built to scale, it would have gone 215 MPH! 

 Watching the races!

 Jayden's car a full car-length ahead of the rest

 1st place

His wolf badge & arrow points

9 years old!

It's official!  We have a 9 year old in the house!!!  CRAZY!  Time sure flies by.  It seems strange to think about what life was like before Jayden joined our family.  When we found out we were pregnant with him, we just knew we were having a girl (and we were in denial he was a boy until he was born).  We sure are thankful Jayden came first!  Jayden has always tried hard to be good.  He is our child who wants to follow the rules and the one we know we can trust to tell us the truth.  He's always been really sensitive too (I've always said I'd rather have a sensitive child than a bully).  When he was younger and I would get after him for something he would cry easily.  Jayden is such a smart kid.  He has such a good memory that I tend to rely on him to remember things for me.  He is really good at math and LOVES reading.  Seriously, I bet he's read more books than I did before I was 18!  He also loves to do things with his family like go camping, fishing, riding bikes, and playing games.  Here's some of my favorite pics of Jayden:

 Jayden's first day of Primary! 

 First day of school!  I remember when I thought he was so big then!

Johnathan had to work today, so we went to the fire station and celebrated there.  I made (with Jayden's help) some gumball cupcakes and Jayden's favorite chicken enchiladas for dinner.  My sisters came to the fire station with us and we took a bunch of fun pics there.

 I'm RICH!

We love you Jayden and are so glad to have you in our family!

Happy Easter!

A few years ago, we made an agreement with the Easter Bunny that he would come to our house the day before Easter so that we could spend our Easter Sunday focusing on the true meaning of Easter.  We love it!  It works so well for our family and I'm glad we started that when the kids were young.  (I'm not trying to make you feel bad if you celebrate with the Easter bunny on Sunday!)  On Saturday morning the kids woke up and were surprised to see their Easter baskets at the top of the stairs and a trail of candy heading down.  They had all forgotten about it!  Here's our morning hunt with pics:

 Waiting for the 'Go Ahead'!

This is what Jacob does when I tell him to smile...  Goofy kid!

 It's a race!

 Jacob being dramatic!

 

After our candy hunt, we had easter shaped pancakes and then decorated our Easter eggs.  I tried to get really creative and had as much fun as the kids.  I was busy decorating, so I didn't get any pictures of them :(  I'll just tell you they were eggs with a lot of color on them!

On Sunday we had a small lesson about Jesus, how He suffered and died for each of us and how He was Resurrected.  We watched an awesome video about it too that the kids really liked!

Here's the link: He Is Risen

Hope you had a wonderful Easter too!

Poem

One of the requirements for Faith in God that Jayden just completed was to write a poem about God's Creations.  I was very impressed with his poem that I wanted to post it here so we'll always have it.

He created Earth
Each and every one of us
A Savior
Very stormy weather
Eternal life
Nine plus one commandments
Lions
You, too

Families
A very beautiful world
Three kindgoms
Happiness
Every single prophet
Rabbits
Seals, too

Created everything
Racoons
Everything we know of
Apples
Turtles
Immortality
Onions
No one wasn't created by him
Snakes also

Geocache Hunting!

Our family has found a new activity we all LOVE!  Geocache hunting!  If you haven't tried it you should!  The kids absolutely love it.  For those who don't know what it is, I'll explain.  Someone takes a container and puts some 'stuff' in it, including a paper for people to sign when they find it, and then they 'Register' the geocache online with the GPS coordinates.  Anyone can just look up what geocaches are around them and plug in the coordinates into a GPS unit, and then follow it and search for the geocache.  Once you find it you can take an item out as long as you put a new item in and then you sign the paper saying you were there and log your visit online when you get home. There are all different sizes of containers and levels of difficulty.  Here's a picture of a geocache as an example.

We use our car GPS unit.  It doesn't work the best, but it gets us close enough.  It's such a fun activity for the whole family!  Here's the website to find a cache near you:

www.geocaching.com

(You do have to register, but it's free and I never get emails from them.)